In general, a bill processing apparatus, which is one of the embodiments of the paper sheet processing apparatus, is incorporated into a service device such as a game medium rental machine installed in a game hall, a vending machine or a ticket-vending machine installed in a public space, or the like, which identifies the validity of a bill inserted from a bill insertion slot by a user and provides various types of products and services in accordance with a value of the bill having been judged as valid. Such a bill processing apparatus comprises a bill conveyance mechanism which conveys a bill inserted into a bill insertion slot, operation equipments such as a bill identification part which conducts validity judgment (or also referred to as authenticity judgment) whether the bill to be conveyed is valid or not, etc., and control means which drives and controls such operation equipments. Then, bills identified as being valid in the bill identification part are sequentially housed in a bill housing part (or bill housing stacker).
As such a bill housing stacker, for example, a configuration disclosed in Patent Reference 1 is known. As described in this publicly known technology, the bill housing part includes a bill supporting plate 50 on which a bill is placed, a pair of partition walls 4A and 4B against which the bill is pressed by the bill supporting plate 50, and a pressing plate 40 pressing the bill toward the bill supporting plate 50.
A passage opening 4C through which the bill is capable of passing is formed between the pair of partition walls 4A and 4B, and the bill is conveyed in a bill guiding part 4 between the pair of partition walls 4A, 4B and the pressing plate 40, and when the pressing plate 40 is driven in this state, the bill passes through the passage opening 4C as it deflects, whereby it is loaded on the bill supporting plate 50. Then, the bill is sequentially laminated on a bill stacking part 5 between the pair of partition walls 4A, 4B and the bill supporting plate 50, to be housed so as to be pressed and biased against the surfaces of the pair of partition walls 4A, 4B by a compression coil spring 51 pressing and biasing the bill supporting plate 50. In such a bill housing stacker, when a severely wrinkled or damaged bill, stiffness of which is deteriorated, is conveyed in, the central portion of the bill housed and stacked on the bill supporting plate is deflected to come down into the passage opening by impact and vibration in a housing operation, which may cause a mal-stacking of the bill.
[Patent Reference 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-010961